The welfare state and local authorities. Evaluation of the action plan for the elderly 1998-2001

The project is a study of the implementation of "the Action plan for welfare services for the elderly" in the 24 municipalities of the county Nord-Trøndlag. Both the processes the action plan put in motion in the municipalities, and the specific results of it are investigated. Focus has been on the conditions the municipalities had to carry out the Action plan, internal discussions in the municipalities with regard to different solutions and the relationship between different municipal initiatives and governmental steering. Here the speed of development in the new initiatives were emphasized, whihch buildings that were chosen and where these were built.

The Action plan for welfare services for the elderly's goals were to strengthen the home based services, develop further the care home sector, increase the nursing home capacity and arrange for single rooms in nursing homes for all that wanted it. All these golas were reached on a national level, something which is rare in such big national reforms. However it turned out that the central authorities' ideas about functionality and running of new care homes and nursing homes were modified. In the report "Velferdsstat og velferdskommune. Iverksettingen av «Handlingsplan for eldreomsorgen» i kommunene i Nord-Trøndelag" it is documented how theses ideals changed when facing everyday reality in the municipalities of Nord-Trøndelag county.

The dataset is made up of four components:
1- Field studies
2- Interviews with local decision-makers in the municipality
3- Information on service receivers in institutions and homes.
4- Data on the municipalities from public registers.